Well flowing device



March 5, 1940. w. c. NALLEY, JR

WELL FLOWING DEVICE Filed Dec. 27, 1958 INVENTOR. W/l/iam C. Na/ley Jr:

ATTO

Patented Mar. 5, 1940 2,192,236

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WELL FLOWING DEVICE William C. Nalley, Jr., Trent, Tex.

Application December 27, 1938, Serial No. 247,913 2 Claims. (Cl. 166-21) This invention relates to new and useful imvalve body showing the pipe fitting or wrench ,pr vements in well flowing devices. used to operate the valve, the wrench being shown In the oil well practice it has been the custom, in engagement with the valve body, when the well is finished, to allow the gas pres- Figure 4 is a transverse, sectional view taken sure in the well to raise the oil to the ground on the line #4 of Figure 2, and

surface or top of the well. Nearly all oil sands Figure 5 is a plan view of the valve body. have suflicient gas pressure to raise the oil to In the drawing, the numeral Ill designates a the surface. However, after this practice has ylind ca Valve body ing its lower end been followed for a length of time the gas preso me W th a p n II which carries external sure in the well bore drops on to such a point screw threads l2. The screw threads l2 are as to be too low to raise said oil to the surface ri ht hand thr The pp P n of the and other means must be employed to obtain body H1 is shouldered and carries anexternally the n or flow t n screw-threaded pin l3 so as to engage in a guide o method of flowing the we is t introduce sleeve M. The guide sleeve I4 is formed with a gas under pressure to the oil bearing sands and depending p p ls flange l5 which is in- II allow said gas to force the oil through the sands nal y screw-threaded at l6 so as to enga and t through t adjacent n tly, with the threads l3. The threads l3 and I 6 are in the process of drilling a well a gas bearing right d t t u y of w ch will be send or t t is passed through by t well explained later in the operation. The guide bore before oil bearing sands are reached. This Sleeve d Valve Y- fit closely e her 10 gas bearing send is sealed 5 from t l b and form a substantially continuous exterior by the casing and by cementing the well at the Surfaceb tt The valve body has an internal axial bore ll o object of this invention is t provtde an which has a reduced portion or constriction l8 u improved n flowing device which introduces spaced from its lower end. This constriction i8 28 .gas nder r ssure from these gas bearin strata serves as a valve seat and will be referred to as into the oil bearing sands and thereby forces the such hereineftere bore ll continues above 1 t through edjeeeht wells the valve seat l8 with substantially the same Another 'object of this invention is to provide diameter a be owt v e ?,.end terminates so an improved well flowing device wherein the ades the upper end t p 3. Radial slots or mission of gas under pressure into an oil bearing Posts 9 o unicate with the outside of th sand having a lower gas pressure may be posivalve body Ill and the portion Of bore '1 above tively and quickly t 11 the valve seat [8, as is clearly shown in Figure 2. A still further object of this invention is to The guide eeve H has an internal axial b r provide an improved well flowing device which substentielly the e diameter as and in 35 may be used as a hole choke for use on alinement Wlth the bore '1. The bore is PTO-I wells that flow of their own accord making it Vlded With left hand, q are, internal screwpossible to choke down the flow of the well so threads 2| and is e arged at its upper end to as to prevent gas separation and emulsifying at form Packing and T enlarged p tio the choke of the bore has internal screw threads 23 and re- A construction designed to carry out the incelves Suitable Pa 14 and a packing land vention will be hereinafter described, together But e guide Sleeve has external left hand t other features of the invention, screw threads l4 formedvon its upper end and The invention will be more readily understood p ed to en e a ng pl n a from a reading of the following specification and An l ng e cylindrical valve 26 is formed with v by reference to the accompanying drawing, in left hand square, screw-threads 21 in its mid-v which an example of the invention is shown, portion, which ge the screw-threads 2|. d i The valve 26 has its lower end 28 tapered so as Figure 1 is a view, partly'in elevation and partto engage the valve seat 18 and has a tapered 5 ly in section, of the well flowing device mounted wrench head 2 9 with angular sides 30, formed-5o in a well casing or bore, on its upper end. The valve 26 is of such length.

' Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal, sectional as to engage the valve seat I8 with its lower end view of the valve body used in the well flowing and have its upper end projecting above the device, packing gland nut 25. The packing gland 22 ef- Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the fectively seals on the upper portion ofthe valve u tubing string so as to engage the left hand threads It: A packer 3|, which may be of any desired construction, is mounted below the valve and spaced therefrom. A screen 32 may be mounted below the packer but this is not necessary and the invention is not limited thereto.

This well flowing device is simple and positive in its operation. The valve and packer are mounted in the tubing string A as explained hereinbefore, with the valve closed, and lowered into the well bore until the packer reaches the bottom of the casing. The packer is then set and the tubing rotated to the right. This causes the tubing to disconnect from the valve because of the left hand threads 14'. The screw-threads l2, l3 and I6, cannot disengage because they are right hand threads. After the tubing string has been disconnected from the valve it is removed from the well bore and a perforatiang device of any kind is placed on its lower end. The tubin is again lowered into the well until the perforating device is in horizontal alinement with a strata containing gas under high pressure. The

casing is then perforated allowing the-gas to flow into the well casing but not into the oil bearing sand because the valve is still closed. The tubing is removed from the well and a tool 33'mounted on its lower end. The tool 33 is formed with external screw-threads, 34 on its upper end. These threads engage the tubing coupling 35 on the lower end of the tubing string A. A recessed wrench socket 36 is formed in the lower end of the tool 33 and is adapted to engage the angular sided wrench head 29 and rotate the same.

The tubing with the tool 33 mounted thereon is again lowered into the well bore until the socket 36 engages the head 29. Then the tubing is again rotated to the right thus opening the valve and allowing the high pressure gas to flow through the parts or slots l9 through the bore II to the oil bearing sand. The pitch of the threads 21 and the taper of the portion 28 may be calibrated so that a known amount of gas will be admitted to the oil sands when a prescribed number of turns are made on the ,valve. This prevents the operator from allowing too much 26. It will readily be seen that by rotating the gas to enter the oil sands and possibly blow out a nearby well.

With the gas pressure raised in the oil sands the adjacent wells will commence to flow span-- taneously. To remove the valve and packer from the well the tubing A and tool 33 are removed from the well and the special coupling (not shown) with left hand threads is replaced on the bottom of .the tubing. By lowering the tubing into the well'until the coupling engages the threads l4 and then rotating the tubing to the left, the operator may again connect to the valve and packer assembly. When this operation is completed the packer may be loosened by jerking the tubing. The whole assembly is then removed from the well.

The construction described herein may also.

be used as a bottom hole choke. With the device mounted in a well as set out hereinbefore, the valve may be used to control the flow of gas and oil from the bottom of the hole. By controlling the flow of'the said gas and oil, emulsions of gas in oil and separation of the gas from the oil may be prevented. In this manner, it is possible to obtain less gas per barrel of oil flowed. When used as a bottom hole choke, the valve and packer'are, of course; used in,individual wells.

Thus, it will be seen that this well flowing device is positive and efiicient in its operation,'and.

may be made in the size, shape and arrangement of the herein described elements, within the directing the gas from said upper level to the lower oil bearing sands.

2. The method of flowing oil wells which consists in, shutting off communication with the oil bearing sands, perforating the casing above the point of shut-off to admit gas from an upper strata, then establishing communication with the oil bearing sands at a lower level anddirecting the gas from said upper level to the lower oil bearing sands, and forcing oil from the oil bearing sands to the ground surface through adjacent wells.

- WILLIAM C. NALLEY, JR. 

